Taste profiles for edible compositions include basic tastes such as sweet, salt, bitter, sour, umami and kokumi. Chemical compounds that elicit these tastes are often referred to as tastants. It is hypothesized that tastants are sensed by taste receptors in the mouth and throat which transmit signals to the brain where the tastants and resulting taste profiles are registered. In addition to taste profiles, edible compositions are also known to have flavor profiles. Chemical compounds that contribute to flavor profiles can be aromatic compounds that are often referred to as flavorants. It is hypothesized that flavorants are sensed by receptors in the mouth, nose, and throat. Taken together, the taste and flavor profiles resulting from the various tastants and flavorants contribute to the sensory experience users have when consuming the edible compositions. The sensory experience can also include various texture and temperature/thermal aspects.
While there have been recent advances in taste and flavor technologies, there remains a need for compounds that can enhance or modify the sensory experience of edible compositions by enhancing or modifying the taste, texture, and/or flavor profiles of edible compositions. The enhancement or modification can be to increase the intensity of a desirable attribute, to replace a desirable attribute that is not present or somehow lost in the edible composition, or to decrease the intensity of an undesirable attribute. In particular, it is desirable to increase the intensity of or to replace a salt and/or umami tastant in both sweet and savory goods. It can also be desirable to provide sourness such as the sourness imparted to cocoa beans during fermentation to sweet goods such as chocolate confectionery. It is further desirable to be able to use tastants to enhance or modify the texture of an edible composition.
Vegetable proteins, such as wheat and soy, can be hydrolyzed to produce hydrolysates that can be used as flavor enhancers (i.e. soy sauce). In EP1312268A1 to Nestle, wheat protein forms the starting material that is hydrolyzed to form pyroglutamic acid tripeptides that provide umami taste. Umami taste is known to produce organoleptic affects including providing mouthfeel and roundness. Umami taste effect is usually described in comparison to the taste provided by monosodium glutamate (MSG). Taking a purely synthetic approach to umami compounds, U.S. Pat. No. 5,780,090 to Firmenich describes tripeptides with a hydrophobic amino acid residue and at least one acidic amino acid residue. These tripeptides provide fuller, richer texture (i.e. an umami effect). However, neither of these publications describe a saltiness associated with the compounds. Saltiness can accompany an umami effect because many of the products that use umami tastants are savory products that include sodium chloride. However, a clean salty taste similar to that provided by sodium chloride is distinctly different from the MSG-like effect of umami. Thus, there remains a need for a flavor modifier that can provide clean saltiness to reduce the levels of sodium chloride needed to produce a desired level of saltiness. Additionally, there remains a need for a flavor modifier that can provide an umami taste without a salty taste and there remains a need for a flavor modifier that can provide an umami taste at very low use levels.